Iran and Russia discuss increasing military ties; Iran blasts US for 'violation' of nuclear deal
They officials after the International Army Games 2016 began on Saturday.
By ARIEL BEN SOLOMONUpdated: JULY 31, 2016 23:48President Vladimir Putin (R) meets with Iran's President Hassan Rouhani in Ufa, Russia(photo credit: REUTERS)
Senior Iranian and Russian defense officials discussed improving defense ties in a meeting in Moscow on Sunday.“Iran and Russia have the needed capacities to broaden their mutual cooperation in the defense field,” Brig.-Gen. Vali Madani said during a meeting with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Iran’s Fars News Agency reported.They met after the International Army Games 2016 began on Saturday.The Iranian commander voiced his satisfaction with the friendly ties between Tehran and Moscow, and the Russian defense minister said that the countries have agreed to expand their defense relations.“Iran’s armed forces have good relations with Russia. We are sure the competitions will strengthen them more,” Madani said on Saturday according to the report.“We are grateful to Russia for holding these very significant competitions. We are looking forward to winning them,” he said.Contingents from Iran’s army, Islamic Revolutionary Guards, Basij militia and police are taking part in the competition in Russia and Kazakhstan, Russian state news agency Sputnik reported. Teams from 30 member countries, including China, Belarus and Azerbaijan, are participating.Meanwhile, the spokesman for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Behrouz Kamalvandi, blasted the US for what he claimed was violating the nuclear deal signed last summer by preventing cooperation between large international corporations and Tehran.“We have not violated the nuclear deal, but the other side has violated it through its political approach toward huge firms,” Kamalvandi said in an interview with Iranian staterun TV on Saturday night, Fars reported.Sanctions regarding human rights and terrorism charges remain in force, the Atomic Energy Organization spokesman noted, claiming they violate the nuclear agreement.
On the Syrian front, Hossein Sheikholeslam, a senior adviser to Iran’s foreign minister, said the Islamic Republic would continue its “advisory” assistance to the Syrian government until the elimination of all terrorist threats to the country, Iran’s Tasnim News Agency reported.He spoke about “Western countries plots” to topple from power Syrian President Bashar Assad.Separately, Ankara’s ambassador to Tehran, Reza Hakan Tekin, praised Iran for quickly coming out against the Turkish coup attempt.“Iranian officials, including the president and parliament speaker as well as the Iranian nation, stood by the Turkish government and nation,” he told Tasnim in an interview, the website reported on Sunday.Tekin noted that President Hassan Rouhani told counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a recent phone conversation that he stayed awake all night to follow the coup developments.Shi’ite Iran and Sunni Turkey are on opposite sides of the regional sectarian conflicts.